For Jacob Parker and Caleigh Epolito, the realization of the success of the 2024-25 season came not on the mat, but in their gym’s front lobby.
“We were putting the new globe in the case,” Parker recalled. “And we had to move the bronze we got four years ago. We just looked at it, looked at each other, and said, ‘There was a point where that was all we wanted.’ And now we have four sitting in front of us.”
It was a rare pause for a program that’s worked toward an unprecedented level of success over the last several years.
In April, Aqua, the Level 6 Limited Senior Small team from Rain Athletics, led by Parker, Epolito, and Jordan Thomas won their third consecutive World Championship. It’s quite a feat for the program, now entering their thirteenth season, which made it to the Worlds podium for the first time in 2021.
Since then, the team had become accustomed to facing high expectations, but this season’s weight of maintaining a newly formed dynasty loomed large.
“The returners felt it more than the new kids, for sure,” Parker said. “But I also think they knew just how rare it is to go three-for-three. We always say: even being on the podium is a massive feat. Four years ago, third place was everything we wanted.”
Half the 2024-25 team was made up of rookies. the staff knew they had to prepare each athlete not just physically, but mentally.
“Jordan [Thomas] has this intuition for pressure,” Parker said. “He builds practices where the kids are in high-stakes situations constantly. Like, they’re doing the elite stunt ten times in a row, and if they drop on number nine, we start back at one. It’s brutal—but it works. By the time they’re on stage, it feels like clockwork.”
“You can’t let your mind be your biggest obstacle when you’ve put your body through all of this [training] already,” explained Thomas. “Towards the end of the season, the routine is beyond physically easy for them. It’s more just convincing them that they’re professionals and they know what they’re doing.”
The method didn’t just lead Aqua to their third consecutive title at The Cheerleading Worlds. It also finally helped them clinch a long-awaited NCA All-Star National Championship.
“That was the one thing that just kept eluding us,” Kaylee said. “We had years where we were so close. Some years we beat ourselves, some years it just didn’t happen. So when we finally hit a clean routine, especially with only one shot this year, it felt incredibly special. The celebration afterward reminded me of our first Worlds win. That’s how much it meant.”
Even with an NCA title, expectations heading into Worlds remained grounded.
“We never assume we’ve won,” Kaylee said. “We never sit back during the routine thinking, ‘Oh, this is it.’ We’re clenching onto each other behind the mat, trying not to completely spiral.”
But on Day 2, the girls were able to trust their training – finishing the competition with an event score of 158.5.
“The elite felt like the turning point in the routine,” Thomas said. “When that hit, that’s when you kind of see the nerves go away, and then they really come alive. You can definitely feel the nerves and the tension before, but once that high to high hit after the one and a half up, you saw the switch flip on.”
“My favorite part is when the kids realize they’ve hit,” Epolito recalled. “You see it in their eyes. The seniors know it’s their last time. They’re crying, they’re dancing, they’re present. That’s the part I’ll remember forever.”
While celebrating what Aqua has become, the legacy built by previous teams is never lost on the program.
“We tell our kids to look down at their chest,” Parker said. “That name means something. They’re not just competing for themselves. They’re carrying on something that was built by athletes who didn’t get the same chances—but worked just as hard.”
“Those kids walked so this team could run,” Epilito added. “They believed in us when we were still building, when no one knew who Rain Athletics was. Everything we have now is because of what they started.”
Now, a third golden globe sits beside the bronze that once felt like everything – a quiet reminder of how far the program has come and how much more there is to accomplish.
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